On Thursday night, the Senate passed a $1.5 trillion spending bill
that will fund the government through the 2022 fiscal year.
The bill includes some wins for immigration, such as increased
funding for USCIS to address the visa backlog, but lacks
provisions many hoped for, like recapturing unused
green cards that are set to expire at the end of the year.
Stay tuned because we are going to take a closer
look at what immigration provisions are in this bill and what was left out.
And if this is your first time on my channel, be sure to subscribe
and turn on the notifications for regular immigration news updates.
This is the first major spending bill of President Biden's administration,
and it was able to pass both the House and the Senate with bipartisan support.
There was pressure to get it done so the US could provide aid to Ukraine
and fund the government before it shut down on Friday.
This pressure pushed both Republicans and Democrats to negotiate a bill
that would receive bipartisan support,
which meant compromising on a number of issues, including immigration.
First, let's take a look at the good news for immigration in this bill.
The biggest win is a $281.7 million increase
in funding for USCIS for a total of $409.5 million.
The majority of the increased funding— $275 million—is specifically
designated to help USCIS tackle the visa backlog.
This will help them hire more staff to process the backlog of applications.
Many were also happy to see the revival of the EB-5
Regional Center program, which had lapsed in June of 2021.
This program allows foreign citizens to secure a green card
if they invest enough capital in the US economy.
So what's in the spending bill—and not in it—that has immigration
advocates disappointed?
The biggest thing people were hoping to see
that was not included was recapturing unused green cards.
Advocates had pushed to include provisions that would recapture
unused employment based and family based green cards
set to expire at the end of the year as a way to help with the massive backlog.
But unfortunately, it was left out of the final bill.
Many were also disappointed to see that this bill will boost
ICE's overall funding by $284.7 million.
Of that $57 million go to the agency's Enforcement and Removal Operations
Division, but it does not provide funding to hire more enforcement officers.
Under ICE there was also a $2.5 million increase
in funding for so-called alternatives to detention programs, which let people
out of detention facilities and monitors them while their cases progress.
Immigration advocates also criticized the bill for not including a previously
proposed pilot program that would provide legal counsel
to children and families seeking asylum in the U.S..
Heidi Altman, the policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center,
said it was "beyond baffling" that Congress would maintain
funding for detaining and monitoring immigrants, but wouldn't
provide extra money to ensure they could access counsel.
Another measure many were hoping would make it into
the final draft was a pathway to citizenship for the 70,000+
Afghan evacuees brought to the U.S.
who remain here under TPS.
While Democrats have been trying to sell the bill as a net
positive for immigration, it has not been received as such.
Jorge Lowree, policy director with the American Immigration Council,
said: "Congress had a great opportunity to implement some very meaningful
and incremental changes to the immigration system this year
that were just squandered in this bill." In addition to the problem of the visa
backlog, there are also hundreds of thousands of immigrants
waiting for the National Visa Center to schedule their interviews.
I will include a link to my video here
covering the NVC's most recent update on the interview backlog.
I will also continue to bring you additional immigration news
as it's available, so be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications
if you haven't done so yet.
Click here to watch this video next and I'll see you there.